Eddie Howe responds as Sandro Tonali watches Newcastle for the first time

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Pre-season is now underway for Newcastle United.

Eddie Howe’s side came from behind to beat Gateshead on Saturday and the games will soon come thick and fast from here.

Rangers are up next before Newcastle jet out to the United States for games against Aston Villa, Chelsea and Brighton.

Hopefully, at some point, we’ll see Sandro Tonali.

The only summer signing thus far, it’s going to be fascinating to see how the Italian beds in.

The 23-year-old was a leading target for Howe and is the first midfield signing made in the PIF era since the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes.

Tonali did not play on Saturday but watched his teammates in action and Howe has shared what the former AC Milan star would have seen.

Eddie Howe shares what Sandro Tonali saw from his Newcastle teammates on Saturday

Indeed, Howe was speaking to The Chronicle.

Tonali sat up in the stands with some of his teammates who returned to training later than the rest following their involvement in international games towards the end of the campaign.

The Magpies boss hopes the Italy international got to see early patterns of play as he prepares for his first appearance.

“Sandro will have seen passages of what we want to do,” he said.

“Maybe not the complete finished article, but he will have seen an intention there. Certainly we did better in the second half in all aspects of our play so, hopefully, he was really concentrated on the beginning of that second period.”

Exciting to see Tonali and Guimaraes link up

With Guimaraes also back in training, it’s going to be thrilling to see how those two players combine in midfield.

Tonali adds depth and the idea of seeing him play alongside arguably Newcastle’s best player in Guimaraes is hugely exciting.

Though Newcastle have been frustrated in the market this summer, Tonali is certainly a statement signing.

If he can get hit the ground running, some of that frustration in regards to the struggles in getting other signings over the line could dissipate somewhat.